IHSA Announces Central Illinois Football Playoff Pairings
The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) football playoff pairings have been announced for Central Illinois, including the WCIA 3 viewing area, with an expanded field of 48 qualifiers per class and byes for 16 teams per class.
Champaign Urbana & Springfield Decatur, IL, October 17, 2026 —
The Illinois High School Association has announced football playoff pairings for Central Illinois, including the WCIA 3 viewing area. The announced format includes an expanded field of 48 qualifiers in each class, with 16 teams per class receiving byes.
The available information does not identify the teams in the pairings, the classes involved, or which teams received byes. It also does not provide game dates, kickoff times, venues or the season to which the announcement applies. Those details were not included in the summary of the announcement.
The stated field size and bye arrangement are the only format specifics provided. No further explanation was given about how the pairings are organized or how teams advance. Accordingly, the announcement establishes the number of qualifiers and byes per class, but the individual matchups and schedule cannot be detailed from the information available.
The pairings cover Central Illinois and the WCIA 3 viewing area, but no list of participating schools or geographic boundaries for the coverage area was supplied. The IHSA announcement is described as covering football playoffs; no additional information about eligibility, selection criteria or the process used to determine the pairings was provided.
Further specifics, including the names of the participating teams and their opening-round assignments, are not available in the provided summary. The reported details remain limited to the announcement of the pairings and the expanded 48-qualifier field with 16 byes per class.
Story summarized from the original created by Tristan Thomas on www.wcia.com, see more information here.
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